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U.S. should ‘mind its own business internationally,’ say most Americans in new study

A new Pew survey shows a sharp decline in how Americans view their place in the world.

After more than a decade of costly wars, spiraling national debt and acute domestic divisions, most Americans now appear to view the world as a place to trade, not invade, nor safeguard as the pre-eminent global cop. (HADI MIZBAN / AP FILE PHOTO)

WASHINGTON—Less powerful, less important, less respected – that’s how a stunning majority of Americans view their place in the world today, according to a major new survey released Tuesday.

And for the first time, a majority of Americans – 52 per cent – say that the United States should “mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as best they can.”

The isolationist impulse is far from total. As many as two-thirds of Americans view greater involvement in the global economy as positive, according to the 2013 survey of America’s Place in the World, a quadrennial project by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.

But after more than a decade of costly wars, spiraling national debt and acute domestic divisions, most Americans now appear to view the world as a place to trade, not invade, nor safeguard as the pre-eminent global cop.

America’s appetite for global economic engagement, in fact, has soared since 2008, when the Great Recession took hold. But the Pew findings – based on interviews with 2,003 Americans one month ago – suggest a divergence between corporate America and the U.S. workforce, with 73 per cent of respondents saying that more U.S. companies setting up operations overseas “mostly hurts” the country.

By contrast, 62 per cent of U.S. respondents welcome foreign companies establishing operations on U.S. soil. Job creation, regardless of which national flag flies over the firm, is paramount, the findings suggest.

The Pew project, conducted every four years, also showed a widening gap between the U.S. public and American foreign policy experts. While 83 per cent of public respondents saw protecting the U.S. from terrorist attacks as a top policy priority, nearly as many – 81 per cent – saw the protecting American jobs as equally important.

A companion survey of 1,838 members of the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, by contrast, showed only 29 per cent of policy experts view the protection of American workers as a top priority.

Summarizing the 107-page report, Pew said views of U.S. importance and power on the world stage “have passed a key milestone.

“For the first time in surveys dating back nearly 40 years, a majority (53 per cent) says the United States plays a less important and powerful role as a world leader than it did a decade ago,” the report said.

“The share saying the U.S. is less powerful has increased 12 points since 2009 and has more than doubled – from just 20 per cent – since 2004.”

The sense of waning international respect described by respondents, however, is not unprecedented. Late in former president George W. Bush’s second term, 71 per cent of respondents said the U.S. was less respected than in the past. That number improved during the early years of the Obama era, but now has returned to where it was, with 70 per cent saying the U.S. is losing respect internationally.

“Foreign policy, once a relative strength for President Obama, has become a target for substantial criticism,” according to the Pew summary.

“By a 56 to 34 margin, more disapprove than approve of his handling of foreign policy. The public also disapproves of his handling of Syria, Iran, China and Afghanistan by wide margins. On terrorism, however, more approve than disapprove of Obama’s job performance (by 51 per cent to 44 per cent),” the report said.

On the broader question of skepticism over American international engagement, the 52 per cent of respondents who agree the United States “should mind its own business internationally” marks an all-time high, not only for Pew but also for the Gallup polling firm, which first began asking the question in 1964.

“Just 38 per cent disagree with the statement. This is the most lopsided balance in favour of the U.S. ‘minding its own business’ in the nearly 50-year history of the measure,” Pew said.

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